Combined parathyroid adenoma and an occult papillary carcinoma

Although the pathological association of thyroid and parathyroid disease is common, the association of both parathyroid adenoma and thyroid cancer is rare. We report here a case of a 45-year-old Saudi woman who was diagnosed to have primary hyperparathyroidism due to a single parathyroid adenoma as confirmed biochemically and radiologically. At operation, the adenoma was found to be an intrathyroid and therefore a thyroid lobectomy was performed. Histology of the excised lobe revealed in addition to the intrathyroid parathyroid adenoma a concurrent occult thyroid papillary carcinoma. This interesting association is discussed based on a literature review